Fig. 2: Adherens junction disruption induces apoptosis in the prenatal neocortex.

a–d Confocal images demonstrate that ΔnCdh2-GFP- (c, d) triggers increased cell death compared to control GFP-electroporation (a, b). e–g GFP-electroporated PAX6-expressing cells occasionally show TUNEL-labeling under control conditions. h–j Increased TUNEL-labeling density is observed in ΔnCdh2-electroporated samples. Scattered line encircles a still morphologically intact ΔnCdh2-electroporated, TUNEL-positive cell that has retained PAX6-immunostaining. k Density of TUNEL-positive and TUNEL/PAX6 double-positive cells after electroporation at E15.5 (both cases: two-sided Mann-Whitney U test, P < 0.0001; n = 22 samples from n = 3 animals per GFP electroporation, n = 21 samples from n = 3 animals per ΔnCdh2-GFP electroporation). l–o Two days after the elimination of adherens junctions show elevated cell death in the electroporated area (n, o). p–s The pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK prevents cell death induced by ΔnCdh2-GFP-electroporation. t Density of TUNEL-positive dead cells in the electroporated area (Kruskal–Wallis test with post hoc Dunn’s Test; ***P < 0.0001; ns = not significant, P ≈ 1; n = 18–18 sections from n = 3–3 animals per GFP and GFP + Z-VAD-FMK treatment; n = 30–30 sections from n = 4–4 animals per ΔnCdh2-GFP and ΔnCdh2-GFP + Z-VAD-FMK treatment). Graphs show box-and-whisker plots (including minima, maxima, and median values, lower and upper quartiles) with single values. Scale bars: a–d, l–s: 50 μm, e–j: 10 μm. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.